Sunday, May 10, 2009

carrot cupcakes

lucy really wanted to do some baking the other day and as she is recently obsessed with carrots (orange twiglets... a charlie and lola reference...) i decided to make carrot cupcakes. once again ina garten had a delicious looking recipe, but it sounded just a little too intense. i tried this recipe instead, which was not nearly as good as i imagine the barefoot contessa's to be. i did, however, use her recipe for cream cheese frosting, so i guess i should have just gone all out anyway...
they were still pretty good...

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together the first 6 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in 1/4 cup of the chopped walnuts.
Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting: (this is from ina garten... does she have a recipe that doesn't at least use some butter?)
3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners' sugar

For the frosting, cream the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.